In honor of A-Rod's return to the Yankee lineup, I thought I would find a member of the next wave of Major League 3rd basemen, and we'll start with Brett Wallace who is currently playing for Double-A Springfield in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. Wallace was the 9th pick in the 1st round of the 2008 MLB Draft and has so far been raking through A-ball and AA-ball.
SourceTeam League BA GP AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS OBP SLG OPS Quad Cities (A) MWL .327 41 153 28 50 8 1 5 25 17 32 0 0 .418 .490 .908 Springfield (AA) TXL .367 13 49 13 18 5 0 3 11 2 7 0 0 .456 .653 1.109 Totals .337 54 202 41 68 13 1 8 36 19 39 0 0 .427 .530 .957
As you can see, Wallace is a pure hitter with decent power and a so-so eye. In college he played for Arizona State where he won the Pac-10 Triple Crown twice in three seasons. Oh yeah, his college career .398 average wasn't bad either. The downside to Wallace is his defense which is somewhat suspect and might be due, in some part, to his size. As ESPN puts it, "he isn't "fat," just oddly proportioned, with huge, muscular legs that make him look less athletic than he actually is."
Though Wallace has little chance of making the Cardinals roster this year, he could be an impact player down the road, especially since Troy Glaus looks to be on his last legs for the cardinals (currently on the DL after surgery) and the Cardinals don't have any other 3rd basemen with anywhere near the potential that Wallace has. We'll keep our eye on him. In his game last night, Wallace went 3 for 5 with no RBI or Rs. So far on the young season he's batting .283 with 5 HRs and 16RBI in 25 games.
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